A Critical Analysis of the Ways of the Permission of Shaking hands with a Non-Mahram Man and Woman

There is a lot of sensitivity about the relationship between a man and woman in the religion of Islam. Handshake or shaking hands with a non-Mahram is one of the behaviors whose sanctity is specified in narratives, and it also, in the form of other titles, has sanctity measurements. Meanwhile, in recent years, because of the spread of such an act, there have been some attempts to permit handshake under the conditions of the emergence of secondary titles (Haraj and Ezterar) and the presence of an obstacle between their hands. This analytical-documentary study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the exceptions of the sanctity of shaking hands with a non-Mahram regarding its compatibility with Sharia principles and rulings; thus, all written sources, related to the rulings of the relationship with a non-Mahram and the sanctity measurements in shaking hands with a non-Mahram, were reviewed, as well as its Sharia ruling under the conditions of the presence of an obstacle and the emergence of secondary titles, and then the Fatawa indicating its permissibility were analyzed. According to the results, the generality of its permissibility under the condition of the presence of an obstacle is not acceptable, and the referral to the secondary rules cannot necessarily result in its permissibility; especially, the rule of "La Haraj" cannot generally remove the sanctity, and the most of the affected cases are not qualified as being the subject of the rule of "Ezterar".